Portable electronic devices are used for a wide variety of applications from personal digital assistants to cellular telephones and many other functions. Typically such devices house electronics and other components in a plastic housing which is made at least two housing portions. The housing portions can be joined together by a variety of means such as with fasteners like screws, integrally formed snap features, adhesives, and so on. Sometimes housings are designed to be opened by a user, such as to change a battery, for example, and some devices are sealed. Yet other devices are meant to be opened only by service technicians to make repairs and replacements to the device.
One of the simplest means for making a housing that can be opened and reassembled by a user or for service is with the use of a fastener such as a screw. However, in high volume manufacturing, the use of fasteners such as screws is sought to be avoided. In general there is a preference for the use of integrally formed cantilevered snaps or latches. These type of features are used for a variety of removable housing members, such as battery covers, for example. Latch or snap features can also be used to more permanently join major housing members together by disposing the features inside the housing. However, when the latch or snap features are located inside, it is not possible to take the housing apart to service the device without damaging the housing. The latch or snap features could be designed to be accessible from the outside, but doing so would allow users to tamper with the components inside the device, leaving manufacturers no way of knowing if a failure is caused by tampering or by a defect that may be covered by a warranty. Furthermore, tampering with devices that transmit radio frequency signals may cause the device to exceed permitted radiation specification, making the device an illegal radiator. Therefore there is a need by which housing members may be semi-permanently joined together that facilitates easy disassembly, but that resists tampering.